Skinny rods, with tiny rings —- rather than conices & valances, add a basic curtain or roman —- sheers are BIG. especially in natural tones; a thin organic cotton living gives a bit of privacy —- use “only the fabric you need”, so ditch those puddling-on-the-floor curtains for the “spare approach”.

Flynn echos my own thoughts and particular cravings: “stick with linen and cotton“. I’m a BIG advocate of natural fabrics, in clothing as well as home decor, when at all possible.

Find fabrics with subtles patterns: tone-on-tone stripes, or use a “rough” linen rather than a “smooth” cotton.

An idea is to use “subtler patterns” for bedrooms — “where it’s nice to have something calmer. In your dining room you can indulge your alter ego, and go little crazier.”

Over the weekend, I watched a 60 Minutes episode on the demolition of foreclosed home in the Columbus, Ohio, area — truly, a great waste – of money, energy, goods; not to mention the foolishness of removing people from their homes which now are fodder for criminals stripping a property for items of a little worth (the guy on the segment mentioned: “They’ve even taken the kitchen sink!”).

So it was with great interest I read about a Vermont man who has been in the business of “redressing” older windows. The story ran in the free weekly newspaper, 7 Days, and was written by Amy Lilly. The company — which is bound to get some much needed publicity, is Open Sash, owned by Christopher Pratt. Amy’s story really tells you all you need to know, so I will let it speak to you – just click on the photo:

Today’s weather reports predict a “Massive Heatwave” for the mid-United States. Here are some tips for keeping cool:

During the day, close blinds and/or curtains to keep out the sun’s heat; open windows in the evening & night to draw in the cooler nighttime temperatures.

Keep hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

Seek air-conditioned stores, shops, movie theaters.

Check on elderly relatives and neighbors; children and pets also feel the heat — but can’t always complain.

NewsOne had this to say about June’s sweltering heatwave: “At Stanford, Noah S. Diffenbaugh and Martin Scherer analyzed global climate computer models and concluded that by midcentury, large areas of the world could face unprecedented heat. They said the coolest summers will be hotter than the hottest ones of the 1900s.”

Worst news: “unbearable humidity”!

Let’s take a look at our winter infrared photos:

Here (of course) the blue signals exterior cold seeping in through a shadeless window – the reading is at 28 degree Fahrenheit. Photo 2 shows that same window with a cellular shade drawn down – temperature reading has now risen to 61.5 degrees. The “flames” of cold blue are the “exposed” areas to the side of the shade — which, in photo 3, are sealed by the Comfortrack Sidetrack system. A small rise in temperature accompanies the use of the sidetrack system (to 64 degrees).

Now, think in terms of OUTSIDE HEAT — what is BLUE (cooler) would then photograph RED (warmer), and what is seen above as RED (warmer) would then photograph BLUE (cooler). This works for windows, skylights, arches — any glassed area that potentially can be covered by a cellular window shade! A-ma-zing, huh?

I’ll take a leaf out of a colleagues book and say, on Shameless Promotion Friday, that if you are experiencing such excessive heat situations now run — don’t walk — to your nearest computer with internet and check out our shade offerings: Once installed, you will be glad you did! Just in the last two days I’ve spoken to a woman with a green house — glass walls, glass ceiling; she and her family are broiling…. And one gent called to *finally* order a skylight shade for the kitchen. Why “finally”? He and his wife were “cooking” — but the wife was cooking in that kitchen any longer; she stood at his elbow while he called to order the shade!

With the April Showers (snow in some places; tornadoes in others — but a “dicky bird” in Texas says Dallas was seeing 87 degrees today!) we welcome our new “Color of the Month”.

The way the sale works is that you receive 10% off the base shade price, in addition to other sales!

April therefore sees lovers of the colors VIBE (light orchid) and DIVA (light violet) able to take advantage of this rare opportunity.

So what does the color purple signify?

For one thing: Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and Alice Walker! So support a favorite novel, while reading or watching the film adaptation in front of your purple shade(s)!

Seriously, though, purple is the symbol of “wealth” and “royalty”. It makes me think of Easter — in the Catholic Church the color symbolizes penance, humility, melancholy; it is the liturgical color of Advent, Lent and Good Friday. Possibly, this is the derivation of the color purple representing “wisdom” and “spirituality” then.

I really *like* this image of the color purpose: that it signifies “Rich Sophistication“!

The website found here has some color psychology insights of interest: “This color stimulates the brain activity used in problem solving.” And this one sure ties in to our home decor theme: “Young adolescent girls are most likely to select nearly all shades of purple {no pun intended!} as their favorite color.” At least I hope that is true and not some outlandish “sexist” comment!

Kate Smith (at homefurnishings.com) mentions that “purple was the first dye made by man”, which, as a fiber artist, I find an interesting tidbit to learn about. She claims “The color purple affects us physically by

Uplifting

Calming the mind and nerves [and who can’t use THAT?]

Encouraging a sense of spirituality

Supporting creativity”

In the garden, Kate says it “is a cool color in landscape design”. Hey! my house has a bit of a purple scheme going on! Who knew? “Purple plants visually recede in a garden, making a small space feel larger.”

I’ll take a couple $5,000 “purple” chips home (although I am not a fan of gambling [too much of a gamble!]). This is under Kate’s “interesting facts” about purple section.

And we certainly must honor the military and mention here the “Purple Heart” – given to soldiers wounded in battle.

A useful section is “Purple around the World”: Did you know,

In Thailand, purple is worn by widows (a color of mourning)

In Tibet, amethyst is considered a sacred color associated with Buddha

The moment I saw this photo, I knew it would be of value to our blog readers:

As you can see, the day was fairly bright — there is light coming through the SHADES, yet you are not able to see through them. This demonstrates that “sense of light” which I often mention to people inquiring about how a light-filtering cellular fabric looks when in a window.

This next photo is of great interest because of the top down, bottom up shade: Obviously, taken on a wintry day, the sun is quite minimal (pity us!); yet, the photo again illustrates how the light filters through the shade, as well as how much privacy they achieve.

And if you WANT to see out: Just Open Your Shade! Cellular Shades certainly are meant to be opened and closed with some regularity: what we call “cycling” the shade.

Many people are interested in cordless shades, especially after recent concerns over child and pet safety. Be advised, however, of the steps you can take to keep cords out of reach: with cord cleats, velcro dots, cord guides. We take child-safety seriously at CellularWindowShades!

We also take our Production standards to stringent margins — and we found the combination of double cell blackout fabric (often desired in bedroom settings) with the Cordless did not function, over time, as well as we could have hoped. Therefore, in the spring the decision was taken to remove the double cell blackout fabric as an option for Cordless shades.

Q: So what is your option for the room-darkening effects of a blackout combined with the ease of the Cordless shade?

A: Single cell blackout fabric from the 1/2-inch, or Virtuoso line. This combination gives you the best product for ease of operation.

We also have available — at a terrific 30% off! — the 3/8-inch single cell “Fanfare” line. Please note that these fabrics are only available with the Standard Cord Lock or the Top Down Bottom Up operating features.

When in doubt: the Light Filtering double-cell fabric works for all the different lifting methods: Standard Cord Lock; Top Down Bottom Up; Continuous Cord Loop (the “Smoothy”); Cordless; as well as Motorized.

No, this isn’t a picture of snow (don’t rush things!), but of COTTON BOLLS, ready for harvesting.

It’s not the material, per se, that make us blog today about cotton, but the COLOR: a beautiful, brilliant, natural WHITE. Ever seen anything like it?!?

The front inside cover of HOME TEXTILES TODAY, the “Business & Fashion Newspaperof the Home Textiles Industry,” has quite the evocative photograph, though their cotton bolls are “blown” and exceptionally full. But, as we discuss color, it’s interesting to see what seems hot and new on the following page: purples and hot pinks, jewel-like reds all pop from the photographs opposite.

As we’ve mentioned in an earlier post: don’t be AFRAID of color: embrace it! What beauty the “natural” white takes on when coupled with vibrant wall color and sparkling wood tones. Think of grandma’s crisp linen bedding, with hints of bright jewel-toned embroidery. Colors work best in tandem with each other, bouncing off, complimenting, contrasting. In a darkly-colored room, white shades will simply *sparkle*; but for those who adore brights and whites, think what tones of color on your windows could accent those important areas.